Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Luke Baines

Most people know Luke Baines for the work he’s done on the screen in projects like Home and Away, A Dark Place, and a small little franchise you may have heard of called Shadowhunters. But what you may not know is Luke is also a dedicated humanitarian who continues to do his part to make the world a better place.

When his career began to take off, Luke decided to pay it forward and find an organization whose values aligned with his own. That led him to discover Oxfam International, whose core mission is to end the injustice of poverty around the world. A longtime partner, Luke has played an instrumental role in different initiatives, including his latest, the #HelpOutStayIn campaign, which targets the global pandemic we’re facing today.

Pop Culturalist caught up with Luke to learn how we can do our part to help out and stay in!

PC: You started your humanitarian work at a young age. Tell us about the early days and discovering your passion for philanthropy.
Luke: I’ve been interested in humanitarian work for as long as I can remember. I hate any kind of injustice, whether it’s bullying or someone not getting their fair share. It’s always been something that I can’t stand. I remember when I was nine or ten, I would go and get people to fill out petitions at the mall near my house. When I was ten or eleven, I’d write letters on behalf of Amnesty International. It’s always something that I wanted to do.

PC: As your career started to take off, you were looking for an organization to partner with long term. How did you discover Oxfam? What made them stand out to you?
Luke: I took a break from acting when I was nineteen, and I worked in corporate communications and crisis management. I worked for a lot of big international organizations. Some of them were great. Some of them weren’t.

When I was looking for a charity to partner with, I went through all their corporate statements. I went through their annual reports and their financial statements. I wanted to make sure that whoever I was partnering with was going to be someone that I wanted to be with for the long term and that their values aligned with mine. Oxfam’s whole core philosophy is about working to end the injustice of poverty.

That really resonated with me because I’ve never been able to understand how one person who is born on one side of the world and another person is born on the other side of the world, why one person should have more than the other. That really resonated with me, and they’re a really good organization.

They work with local partner organizations in different countries. They’re like, “We might not know this country as well as someone on the ground, so let’s work with them and make sure that we’re actually doing the right thing here.” I saw that when I went on a recent trip to Central America, and it solidified everything for me.

PC: You’ve been actively involved with the organization for the past four to five years. What have you learned from the experience? What’s been the biggest takeaway?
Luke: Honestly, when it comes to humanitarian work, there is never just one problem. You plug a hole, and then you keep on going. I originally got into it with a very specific idea in my mind of what sort of work I wanted to get into in the humanitarian space, primarily around refugees and forced migration.

That is something I’m still very passionate about. But then I’ve just seen so many other things that it’s hard to say “no.” Oxfam will come and be like, “Hey, we have this campaign at the moment. It’s around this. Can you help?” I’m like, “Yeah, I can.” Because it’s so hard to say “no” when there are so many problems out there. It’s definitely something that I will be doing for the rest of my life.

PC: You’re also inspiring others to find and use their voice. What has that meant to you?
Luke: It’s so interesting. It’s interesting thinking about having others get involved. When I joined Shadowhunters, the fan base was so engaged and so passionate about the show that when I thought about going to them with the Oxfam stuff, I was blown away by how many people really got involved with it. It speaks to the fact that with most of these issues people do want to help. It’s about giving them the opportunity to do so and giving them the opportunity to learn about the issue.

I would do fan conventions in Europe and have people come up to me and tell me that they changed their major. I spoke to one girl in Paris who changed her major from doing a master in business to doing a master in international relations. She focused on the war in Yemen because it was something that she learned about from me and an Instagram story she had seen. That blew my mind. I never really expected it to have that kind of impact on anyone. Even now, it’s still really hard to understand that it does have that kind of impact. I just know that I have to keep doing it because it feels like the right thing to do.

PC: We’re living in a really unprecedented time right now. Can you tell us about the #HelpOutStayIn campaign and how people can get involved?
Luke: Of course. I got together with Katherine McNamara from Shadowhunters and Claire Holt and Daniel Gillies from The Originals to do a Propeller campaign. The thing that COVID has brought up is that it’s a reminder that we all deserve to be treated equally and with dignity and compassion. The pandemic is targeting everyone, but there are people who are more vulnerable than others. Through this Propeller campaign, people can get involved by signing this pledge to help out and stay in. They can also donate if they’re able to. There are also other actions that people can take to get involved, and everyone will be entered to win a one-hour happy hour with all four of us. They can also help us with other things that Oxfam is doing around legislation for more funding in certain areas of the United States like Louisiana or Puerto Rico but also internationally, where Oxfam has a huge presence.

PC: You’ve put together this incredible lineup. What’s one fun fact about each that fans would be surprised to learn?
Luke: That’s a good question. Claire Holt is one of the funniest people I know. She’s stealth funny. She’s incredibly sweet and kind and will catch you off guard with one of her jokes. That’s Claire!

Daniel, I actually met through Oxfam. I’ve never worked with him. I met him at a conference in San Francisco, but I’ve been such a fan of his work because I watched The Originals because Claire was in it. When I met him, I imagined he would be a very, very serious person, which he is, but he’s also pretty goofy. That’s a side I don’t think a lot of people see.

Kat is genuinely like my little sister. I’ve known her for a few years now. We almost did a film together, but then she couldn’t do it because she was doing the Shadowhunters pilot. She’s very funny. A fun fact about Kat is she’s obsessed with apples. She has an ungodly obsession with apples. I went traveling with her through Europe. Most people are like, “I want to go buy a fancy bag or go to this restaurant.” Kat is always looking for grocery stores so that she can go buy more apples to put in her backpack.

PC: You’ve also stated in a previous interview that you dedicate a day each week to work on new initiatives and campaigns with Oxfam. What else is in the pipeline?
Luke: My focus for the past twelve months has been around the war in Yemen and also Central American migration. Last year, I went to El Salvador and Honduras, and it’s all firsthand work that Oxfam does. Essentially, what I’m going to do over the next twelve months is continue to work on this COVID campaign because it’s not going anywhere, especially for people in underserved countries.

I also will be focusing a lot on Central American migration and looking at the drivers of change there and trying to help Oxfam essentially talk about the issue more so that the US government can help. It’s not a problem that’s going to get fixed overnight. It’s extremely complicated. But there is a way that can help our neighbors and help us also at the same time. Essentially, the back end of this year is also going to be about making sure that people get involved in the US election.

We’re asking people to vote because everybody needs to have their voice heard. We’re asking people to pledge to get three people who they will remind to vote on Election Day. There was a low turnout at the last election, so we want to encourage people to pledge to remind three of their friends or family to vote.

PC: Besides your work with Oxfam, you have a cameo coming up in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is there anything you can tell us about that project or anything else that you’re working on at this time?
Luke: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was such a fun job. I was actually booked for a larger role on the show, and they decided to go in a different direction with it. The costume director called my manager and was like, “I’m so sorry it hasn’t quite worked out, but we’ll find another role for him essentially.” Then this cameo came up and they were like, “He wouldn’t want to do this, would he?”

My manager was like, “Let me ask.” I was like, “Yep. When and where?” It was a really cool day. I actually didn’t find out what I was doing until I got back, but it was such a cool experience, and it’s a great cast. Everyone was really lovely. They’re a well-oiled machine.

I’ve got a couple of other jobs that I filmed coming out within the year, but they haven’t been announced yet. Then obviously, right now everything’s up in the air with quarantine. I’m writing a couple of scripts at the moment, so hopefully one of those will see the light of day in the near future.

To keep up with all the amazing work that Luke is doing, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Take the pledge to #HelpOutStayIn here.